


Assemble

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Infinity War Fix It [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 02:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: Avengers are starting to assemble in Wakanda.





	Assemble

**Author's Note:**

> I would've had this posted on Friday but Actual Work was being hectic, I was occupied with kids over the weekend and Nebula was being testy.

There was a signal that Nebula recognized on the way to Earth with Tony. She followed it and ignored his complaints that he had to get to the Avengers complex in upstate New York to find any survivors. He had made good on trying to upgrade her cybernetic leg and arm, though she would be damned before she actually thanked him or sounded grateful. It wouldn't do to be weaker in front of him than she already was. Thankfully, Tony was quiet as he worked, and he didn't seem to need a translation of her grunt of appreciation. Perhaps when it came to prosthetics, he was just as proud.

As he slept in one of the unoccupied berths, Nebula stayed at the helm and scowled at the sensor array in front of her. The pattern in the signal was familiar, but its content was not. A safe place to land and settle? That wasn't the kind of signal that would draw in fighters, and she would need fighters to track down and kill Thanos.

Before she could stop herself from doing it or question her motives, Nebula copied the signal and routed it toward the Ravagers with her own addition: _For whoever's left, the devastation is the work of Thanos. Find him. Destroy him. Save the rest of us._

She hit send and sat back in the pilot's seat, staring at the stars as they streaked past. Maybe in some kind of alternate universe, Gamora could be proud of her for that.

***

"I hate this planet," Nebula grumbled as the ship touched down outside of the Wakandan energy dome. She and Tony could clearly see the carnage in outlanders and Wakandan warriors, the great gouges in the grassy plain where the fighting had taken place. She nodded in its direction. "That was a deliberate choke point. Useful, but the Black Order never does anything by halves."

Tony eyed her and unconsciously touched his side, where Thanos' spear had gone right through him. "Yeah, I don't imagine Thanos is a good citizen of the universe."

"His mad plan? He started with his own planet. He'd killed them all by himself," Nebula replied gruffly. "It's what led to building a death cult."

"The more you tell me about this douchebag, the less I like him."

"You're not supposed to," Nebula intoned, hitting the button to open the back hatch. "Let's go meet your allies."

"I've never been here before!"

"They sent a signal calling us here, so they're allies even if you don't know them. Don't fuck it up, Stark."

He goggled at her and threw his arms to the side in a gesture of innocence. "What? Me? You're the fucking ray of sunshine here!" Nebula glowered at him before stalking off the ship with purpose. He watched her for a moment, shook his head and then followed. "Good murder strut, though," he muttered under his breath.

She might have had enhanced hearing as well, though she didn't respond other than to smirk as she moved across the Wakandan field. Tony wasn't terribly surprised to see a veritable army show up, tall women with red armor and spears made of pure vibranium, as well as tribesmen in blue or green. Their cloaks stiffened with energy to create a shield, and internally Tony was making note of it. The next iteration of Iron Man armor could probably use some energy shielding, given how the nanotech hadn't lasted very long after Thanos got him.

Nebula didn't even slow down when the spears were leveled in her direction. Unimpressed, she looked among them for someone that looked to have leadership skills. "There was an interplanetary signal projected from this location," she announced disdainfully when she didn't see someone that seemed authoritative enough. "We're here in response to that."

"Queen Shuri had sent out a signal for the Asgardian colony ship," one of the armored women announced.

"Queen Shuri?" Tony blurted in shock. "Asgardian colony ship? What the hell? Where's King T'Challa?"

Somber faces greeted his outbursts, and he felt a chill roll through him. This couldn't be good news.

"Bring them to the Queen," the woman announced, falling back from her aggressive stance.

 _Boss,_ FRIDAY's voice came through his glasses. It had been comforting to hear her when the ship made its approach, but he had felt sick when FRIDAY said she couldn't reach Pepper. _There are memorials to the dead all over the planet. King T'Challa's name is on the Wakandan list._

Oh yes, this was definitely not good news. As he and Nebula followed the warriors to the palace, skirting past the battle field, he tried to hang onto the fact that Pepper's name wasn't on any memorial list that FRIDAY could find.

***

The Queen was a _child._

Nebula stared, not caring that she was being rude and the girl in front of her was looking irritated. She let Tony Stark explain the situation as he saw it, and looked around the throne room openly. She didn't recognize the Wakandans in the room, or the lighter skinned humans that obviously weren't originally from the country. There was a lot of tech in the room, as well as the familiar face of Rocket Raccoon. As soon as Tony's explanations were more or less done, Rocket launched himself out of the dignified line and headed in her direction. Honestly, she was surprised it had taken him that long.

"Where's Quill? And Drax? And Mantis? And Gamora?"

She couldn't answer, the stinging pain in her gut making her ache in the few fleshy parts that still remained of her. She stared at Rocket, finally registering that he was alone. "Where's the Tree?"

 _"Where's Quill?"_ Rocket demanded. "We've already left him behind once, did you flarking leave him behind again?!"

"He's dead!" Nebula snarled at him as Tony opened his mouth. "We're all that's left! We were on Titan, and we _lost._ They're all dead!"

In the hushed silence that followed, Nebula realized that she had shouted, hovering over Rocket's body in an imposing way, hands fisted as if she had twin swords in them or a blaster.

Rocket, on the other hand, simply stared up at her, eyes wide in shock. He shook his head, mouth opening and then closing. "You're lying," he said, voice cracking. "Y-you gotta be lying..."

One of the tall blond men approached and then knelt beside Rocket. "I don't-"

"Go put a sock in it, Asgardian," Rocket snarled. "You at least have some people left!"

Nebula straightened and looked at a point behind the Queen's head, swallowing awkwardly. She was a poor substitute, after all. She knew that already. She had always known that.

"O-kay," Tony said, about to say something that would likely make everything a lot worse, "who here _hasn't_ lost a lot of people they care about because Grimace decided that a bunch of space rock collectibles were a neat idea to have?"

Rocket growled at him, teeth bared. "Don't you-"

 _"Enough!"_ Shuri cried, her entire body shaking. "You're here in _my_ country, working with _my_ people. We've all lost people. We've all lost entire lives and worlds," she said, making eye contact with each word. "And maybe none of you were friends or allies before this. Maybe none of you cared before. But you are standing in _my_ country, and I will not have this tear the rest of it apart." Her lower lip wobbled a bit, and Nebula almost felt sorry for her. She was just a child.

War extracted such a terrible, horrific cost. Children always paid the highest price.

"I sent word to the Ravagers," Nebula blurted, looking at Rocket. "Whoever's left of them. Maybe they can get a force together and help. A colony ship won't have fighters able to take down Thanos."

He gave her an assessing look that made her skin crawl, even the cybernetic skin. "Yondu was a good one, in the end. He trusted them, and they turned up for his funeral after all. They might help," he said finally. "But don't think this means I trust you."

"We are all allies," Shuri said firmly, cutting off everyone's replies. "By necessity, we must think on our skills and what we can do to help for the good of all the people. We need to rebuild, and we need to recover. Perhaps revenge, if you think we can undo what Thanos had done," she continued, looking at Nebula. "You flew that ship here, you redirected the signal we broadcast into outer space."

"Tech may not be enough, sorry to say," Tony said, shaking his head somberly. "I scratched him, but that's as far as I got."

Rocket gave him that assessing look next, and Nebula felt better with fewer pairs of eyes on her. "Huh. That's better than most get."

"It may just be the _type_ of tech," Shuri said quietly. "So perhaps we should all come together and figure that out, and then come up with a logical plan of attack."

Nebula turned and met her eyes, nodding. "I can at least tell you where his usual hiding places are. For all the good it does us. I've come close to killing him, but haven't managed it yet."

"You were working alone then," Tony reminded her.

A blonde woman wearing red and black armor stepped forward with a grim expression. "Now you're not alone." Her eyes flicked to Tony and her lips twisted into a wry smile. "If fighting's a party, let's go start a party and bring the fun to Thanos."

"Good to see you made it, Natasha." He seemed extra weary as he turned to another bearded blond man. "You too, Cap." He looked around the room and seemed to take note of who was there and who _wasn't_ there. "I'm sorry about... Well, you know."

The blond man only gave him a nod, seeming to be too overwhelmed by his grief to form words. Nebula knew that feeling all too well, and looked at him with her own assessing glance. "You're a fighter and you know battle strategy." Her voice rang out in the silent audience chamber, and no one said a word. Rocket smacked her leg in irritation. "What?" she snapped at him.

"Have some kind of decency, will ya?" He paused for a half a second. "Yeah, I know how that sounds, comin' from me."

"Decency is what lets Thanos win. Decency is why too many bowed down and let him raze their planets to the ground. Decency won't give us any chance of killing him."

"What my one-track-mind kind of friend here is trying to say, Your Highness," Tony said, putting an arm around her shoulders. He ignored her when she shrugged off his touch. "Is that she'll work with the strategy team. She was raised by Thanos and knows his training style."

"Does that put you on my tech team?" Shuri asked, eyebrow raised.

Tony shot her an unabashed grin. "Yes, please?"

"Then we'll divide up according to our skills and interests," Shuri said, sounding a bit put out for having to repeat herself. "We'll make a plan and await the refugees."

"I don't like working with others," Nebula intoned just loud enough for Tony to hear when groups appeared to be forming.

"Was it that bad working with me?" Tony asked. She glared at him in response and he only grinned at her. "I fixed your stuff."

"I don't see why they think you're so important."

"It's okay. It's enough that someone does," he said brightly. Tony pointed over to the blond he had difficulty speaking with earlier. "That's Steve Rogers. Captain America. You'll like working with Natasha. She's the Black Widow, hasn't met a weapon she doesn't like and can't master. Whoever they're working with will kick serious ass, so you'll feel right at home with them."

"You're mocking me."

"Absolutely not," Tony promised. Oddly enough, Nebula actually believed him. "I don't do serious or broody like they do. I'd rather build things. So you can go play to your strengths, and we'll put together a plan that involves us kicking Thanos' purple ass and restoring things to the way they used to be."

"Do you really think you can?" Nebula scoffed, shaking her head at him.

"I have to think that, even if it's not true. This is the future I never wanted to see happen," Tony said, all humor sliding off his face. This was the shocked and pained version of him she had seen on Titan, and Nebula decided she didn't like this side of him at all. His jokes irritated her, but she could see it for the front it was and ignore it. Rather like Rocket's behavior. "I can't just sit here and do nothing, and I don't think you can do that either."

"I'd rather die trying to take him down."

"Perfect. Those guys over there are just as stubborn as you are. I think you'd all make good friends."

Nebula glowered at him. "I still reserve the right to kill you."

Tony nodded at him. "You get first dibs if alcohol doesn't do it for you." When she looked at him in confusion, he marched off toward the tech team assembling, loudly asking for enough drinks to dull out his nightmares and ignoring the disapproving stares that the ladies in red armor were giving him.

Sighing, she approached the two blonds that Tony had indicated. "You're warriors," she said flatly, looking them over. The tall black woman with the red armor next to the blonde woman named Natasha nodded, and gave her an assessing glance that reminded Nebula of Gamora when they were teenagers. "He found me lacking and replaced defective parts with cybernetics," she explained, seeing them stare at her silver prosthetics. "But I have the database of his tactics so far and all the hiding places he's ever been. I can be of use."

The expression on the blond man's face softened a fraction. "Even if you didn't have all that information, the fact that you want to fight with us is enough. Welcome to the team."


End file.
